go_team | Entries tagged with work

( LiveJournal Mood Ring results: funny! )

It's also pretty true. I've been feeling pretty energetic lately (with the exception of Friday, when I was the Amazing Zombie Girl at work until Charlie the best waiter ever made me some crazy magic coffee-chai concoction that would've kept me hopped up all day on any other day, but instead only brought me up to normal energy levels --- I was fried because Peter and I stayed up way past my bedtime watching Amélie the night before, but I digress). I think it's because I've been getting more exercise, consistently riding my bike home the long way from work and whatnot. Oh, and did I mention I worked today? And that I have my birthday and the day afterwards off (because I traded my Friday 7 AM shift for somebody's Wednesday 7 AM)? Clearly, I should have me some birthday fun that involves staying up way too late, since I'm not going to have to get up early the next day.... but what? Oh, my life is so hard and so full of dilemmas. Okay, maybe not, but it certainly is going to be full of laundry in a bit, and after that probably dinner at Pizza Research Institute. Yum.

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: They Might Be Giants, "See the Constellation" (faintly)

So last Saturday as I was leaving work I put a little note on the message board in the break room advertising the fact that I want more hours, and suggesting that cooks who want to take a day off (especially on weekends) give me a call. I also asked if anyone wanted to trade shifts so I could have next Thursday off (it is my birthday, after all).

I just got a call. Net result is I'm working this Saturday and next Saturday at 7 AM, and I have my birthday off, just like I wanted. Hurray!

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Music: Bruce Hornsby, Spirit Trail, "King of the Hill"

Ok, so this weekend was the first time I worked on Saturday and/or Sunday in like a month, but I let my grumpiness at not having many hours be known. One of my coworkers suggested that if I learned to open the restaurant kitchen, I could get scheduled for 6 AM shifts. Ouch, but at the same time, I could use the hours, and if I knew how to open, I'd be more useful in general, and thus more qualified to harass management for a better schedule and raises and suchforth. So I let the "what if I trained to open?" idea slip to a manager when I was signing out yesterday, and she said, "That's a GREAT idea! Can you come in tomorrow, just for an hour or two, to see what it's all about?" and suddenly it was almost like I'd promised I'd come in. So this morning I got up before the sun and started learning about opening the kitchen at the Glenwood.

( Turns out it's pretty easy. ) Today my reward (besides pay, that is) for coming in to open was a lot of good monkey points, a really bitchen breakfast (spinach-feta omelette with sauteed mushrooms and garlic) and a lovely bike ride home (I took the long way, east to campus, across the Willamette, northeast along the north bank of the river, and back across and backtrack east to our house, and it was great to get some exercise). Then I went back to sleep until 11 or so, and now I'm contemplating errands, albeit not very enthusiastically.

Hmm. On second thought, I'd better get out now, before my mom calls and talks my ear off about the past three weeks or however long it is my aunt and uncle (her brother) and their kids have been visiting from Holland (they leave today). Also, I want to catch the 5:05 showing of Whale Rider at the Bijou (Eugene's indie/art house theater, in a remodeled church --- so cool, and the closest movie theater to our house, woo!) I am way psyched about this movie. I think it will pander to me in all the right ways, and wash away the stain of Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.

Current Mood: content
Current Music: Paul Simon, You're the One, "Hurricane Eye"

Well, that would be because last week's schedule change is really and truly permanent, even though my boss didn't bother to tell me and it didn't make it into paper form until the schedule for next week (I actually called in last night to double-check my schedule for today, and they told me I had work at 7, not 11... sigh.) On the upside, I now have his home phone number, and it only took me two harassing calls (with a nice, calming bike ride in between) to get a very contrite apology and a promise that I'm going to be working more soon (seeing as I'm now down to 13 hours a week, which is kinda pathetic really). Here's hoping for the best.

In the meantime, I feel like I should be writing more, sending out more query letters (blah blah blah), and thinking more long term plannish. There's a nagging voice in my head that says I should be thinking about grad school, but it usually gets drowned out by a rousing chorus of "Oh yeah? And in what field, huh?" But enough about that --- for now, anyway; I'm sure I'll get back to it the next time I'm feeling grumpy about work (update, 8:56: click on the link for related comic hilarity!) Time to drink me some chai; I'm sure it's been steeping for long enough by now (only 1/2 an hour!)

Current Mood: aggravated
Current Music: upstairs neighbors, I think.

Today I worked the 11 AM shift instead of the 7 AM. I found out about the change in scheduling at kind of the last minute (10 PM last night), but it looks like the switch is semi-permanent, at least according to the guy I traded shifts with (i.e. who used to be Thursday's 11 o'clocker). The net effect is I work fewer hours, but do less prep and more actual cooking on Thursdays, which is way okay by me. I even got to run the whole line by myself for about half an hour today, which is to say I was the only cook in the kitchen, running the show. Of course, this was at around 3:30 PM, so it was really slow: I made two sandwiches and a burger and then there were no more orders until I went home at around 4, but whatever! I got to run the line! Go me!

Today I also found out that pretty much everyone I work with has wrist problems. While this doesn't do much to get me psyched about the long-term health effects of cooking as a career, it is kind of reassuring to know that the problems are endemic among cooks, and not the result of me doing something horribly, freakishly wrong with my hands.

Tonight: hot and sour soup for dinner. Yum. I'm home alone at the moment (Kelly left on a bike ride just as I got home from work, and Peter just headed over to a friend's house to continue yesterday's bike maintenance and repair adventures) but I've just realized I'm hungry enough that I might go ahead and start on food now, or at least soon. In any case I'm going to make myself some soymilk chai, I think, since I hardly had any caffeine at work today and that's just silly of me, really.

Current Mood: content

Um, so I don't have work today (or tomorrow) after all and so we're heading up to Portland for the housewarming party now. Whee!

I'd be dwelling on that work thing a bit more but sleeping in was good and having more time to spend with friendly freaks in PDXtown is most excellent as well. Whee!

Current Mood: whee!
Current Music: whee!

...but one written from home, because we have internet here! At last! Also, today I got a fabulous new haircut, and tomorrow we're going to chocolatesmudge and nedthealpaca's housewarming party, even though we're going to be late since I have work from 7 till maybe 3, and also I have work the next day because life's like that. I figure since it's only one day I can do it super sleep-depped. Everything will be fine. Also, today Iggy tried to adopt a new kitty friend, and we couldn't find his people for awhile, but then it all worked out okay in the end. Similarly, I lost my ATM card for a bit, but it was saved for me the nice people at the Kiva (grocery, book store, and wine merchant's a few blocks from our house, which makes it amazing we shop anywhere else, and now more than ever because they are so awesome). Maybe there's more, but for now I'm going to bed.

Current Mood: sleepy-happy
Current Music: something from the downstairs(?) neighbor

No, but seriously, this is too funny:

You're a PIRATE FROM MUPPET TREASURE ISLAND. A far cry from the real Treasure Island, you're the cute side of pirating. Not that there really IS a soft side to pirating, you just kinda made it up, but as long as you can sing upbeat calypso tunes and you enjoy working with muppets, there's nothing wrong with being a fun-loving pirate who wouldn't hurt a fly... no matter how much you talk.

What Kind of Pirate are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

In other news, we're only hanging out at the old apartment because there's internet here, and we're deeply addicted. We're amazingly almost entirely moved into the new place, which is good because tonight Peter's leaving for an action-packed adventure of Bay Area goodness at alpinebutterfly's house(re)warming party and beyond. It's going to be lonely in the big new house, but I have Iggy Pop to keep me company, and lots of work over the weekend. Also eventually there will be internet at the new place, I swear. And I'll put the new address and phone number and housewarming party information in a locked post sometime, really I will.

Current Mood: giggly
Current Music: Bob Dylan, Time Out of Mind, "Can't Wait"

Ok, so one of my goals for today was to harass the Glenwood for more hours, but I ended up putting that off since I wasn't technically done tutoring yet. Tonight I was finishing up my laundry goal and the phone rang. It's my boss at the Glenwood, asking if I can come in Thursday and Friday mornings. Hell yeah I can! It's going to be bitch-ass early, but I'm gonna do it! Woo more hours!

Now I'm going to bed, since I'm meeting my student stupid early tomorrow (where "stupid early" is defined as 9 AM, which is not too early to cook but may be too early for number theory... I just hope I'm not completely useless).

I'm currently finishing my third pot of tea for the day. I don't think it will keep me up all night, seeing as right now I can hardly keep my eyes open.

I haven't made any progress in the packing to move department, but hey. We've got two weeks to move in, and as long as we get the big unwieldy furniture and heavy books done this weekend, the rest is relatively easy, with of course the big fat attention-demanding meowy exception that is Iggy Pop. Oh, life is nothing if not interesting. I'm tired, but I'm still feeling pretty good about that.

Current Mood: tired but happy
Current Music: Happy Rhodes, "Till the Dawn Breaks" (mp3)

Thanks to Sunday's Get Fuzzy strip, my LiveJournal friends page now has a title: "Bucky's House for Wayward Monkeys". Just thought y'all might like to know.

I have to be at work in 2 hours. Part of my brain says "That's so weird!" but other parts of my brain say, "About damn time." I think the "About damn time" faction is in the majority, but I'm not sure.

Ok, I think I can get a few errands in before work, so off to do that, I guess. Maybe I'll call some potential rentals or something.

Current Mood: awake
Current Music: Natalie Imbruglia, "Left of the Middle" (random mp3)

Ok, so a little under 12 hours ago, I presented myself at the Alder Street Glenwood and said, "Hi, I'm Tracy. Tell me what to do." I was handed an apron, given a quick tour of the kitchen, and then for the next five hours, plus or minus two breaks, I was mistress of the toaster and waffle irons, and it was good. (Also I helped out with a bunch of other random stuff, when I wasn't busy trying to stay out of everybody's way --- there were 6 people in the kitchen, and a normal kitchen staff is 3 or 4, and it's cozy back there even if there's only 2 people working.) Some time after 3 PM, I got to fill out some forms that make me officially employed, and I go back on Monday at noon to start getting trained for real! Woo! ( More about my exciting day. )

I do have a speck of bad news, which is that we didn't get the house we worked so hard at applying for this week, but hey, at least now I only have to search the classifieds for housing and not jobs. Woo!

Current Mood: giddy
Current Music: slight headache (coming down from the excitement, I think)

The title of this entry comes from an actual wine review published in today's New York Times. It made me giggle, especially when contrasted with the rest of the article, which was much more highbrow: "Reds Easy to Drink, Easy on the Budget" (I think you need a login to view it.)

In other news (longer discussion hidden behind <lj-cut> tags for your convenience), it turns out ( hormone replacement therapy increases risk of Alzheimer's and dementia. )

And finally, ( my generation apparently trusts the military a whole lot more than the baby boomers do/did. )

In news of my life, it sounds like I'm not in big trouble for missing my student yesterday. Another tutor filled in for me for a bit, then decided I wasn't coming and sent my student home. Unfortunately things are total chaos at the Learning Center right now, so they couldn't find my student's phone number, so I'm going to have to just apologize and reschedule tomorrow. So much randomness!

Today I think I'll go take a closer look at one of the potential rentals I played phone tag about yesterday. Also I will strive to return my much-overdue library book, pay my fines, and pick up the books they've got on hold for me: Kevin Crossley-Holland's book on the Norse myths (recommended by Neil Gaiman's bibliography to American Gods), and springbok1's sister's novel Fires of the Faithful. They had bell hooks' Feminist theory: from margin to center ready too, but I guess the hold expired because I didn't pick it up on time because I suck like that. Sigh.

Finally, I started writing this entry at 11:19 am but got distracted and did some dishes in the middle of writing it. I wish there was a "started writing" and "submitted" time stamp for entries. That'd be kinda neat.

Current Mood: okay

...because I made almond biscotti and they're really good. Mmmm, biscotti. Once again, Moosewood Restaurant New Classics provides me with instructions for generating tasty goodness. Rock!

(I also made roasted red pepper hummus, but I already knew how to make that.)

Ok, should probably finish the pot of tea and sleep now. New student to meet, another student to teach, and a potential employer to impress tomorrow! Whee!

Updated to add: Ok, that "accomplished" mood icon is frrrreaky.